466 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



cirjiug prepared by the Commission's experts. In this 

 way the instructions given in the booklets are supple- 

 mented by continuous suggestions and helpful hints which 

 keep the homes of America constantly reminded of the 

 importance of food saving and iiUiiiiately informed as 

 to every possible detail of the canning and drying pro- 



RADISH HARVESTERS AT WORK 



Suppose you were one of these hoys and had found more fun in planting 

 and weeding your radish patch than in stealing away to go fishing; and 

 suppose when harvest time arrived you found that you had bushel after 

 bushel of radishes five inches in length; and suppose the market was eager 

 to buy such vegetable treasures. Wouldn't you feel proud of your summer? 



cesses. Co-operation of similar forCe is being given by 

 magazines and other periodicals of national influence 

 which are making liberal contributions of their space 

 and the talents of their stafifs in spreading the propa- 

 ganda of food thrift. 



That such thoroughly organized work should be re- 

 flected in the nation's food situation is inevitable. The 

 jieople of America are aroused as never before to the 

 importance of Food Thrift and Food Conservation. In- 

 teresting measure of this interest is afforded by the yast 

 deinand for the canning and drying manuals issued by 

 the Commission. Since early in June this demand has 

 been growing in volume. Beginning with a few thou- 

 sand a day the requests for the booklets increased at 

 such rate that July brought the average up to 25,000 or 

 30,000 daily. These requests have come from every state 

 in the nation and from every part of every state. They 

 have come through every ])0ssible' channel from hun- 

 dreds of thousands of individuals ranging from the day 

 worker to the wife of the railroad president ; from local 

 canning and drying clubs, from organizations of all kinds, 

 from schools, colleges and universities, from libraries, 

 from state educational departments and from city, county, 

 state and federal official sources. Members of Congress 

 and United States Senators have been procuring the book- 

 lets in large quantities to distribute to their constituents. 

 The employees of the Treasury Department have received 

 official notice on the department bulletin board, advising 

 them to avail themselves of the Commission's offer to 



supply the booklets upon request. Some branches of the 

 I'ederal Government have placed the seal of approval 

 on the work of the Commission by adopting the manuals 

 as .standard. In the department of the Interior Indian 

 Commissioner Cato Sells requested and received enough 

 manuals to supply the Indian schools throughout the 

 country. The Public Health Service provided the booklets 

 for all of its marine hospitals which have gardens and the 

 Department of Commerce supplied them to its lighthouse 

 service. In short, the manuals have been given recog- 

 nition by the most important private, social and official 

 agencies and have gained currency that has afforded pro- 

 found satisfaction to the public-spirited men who have 

 made this a part of their contribution to the national 

 emergency. 



As was the case in the home gardening campaign of 

 the .spring and early summer, the headquarters of the 

 Commission have come to be looked upon as a national 

 center for activities along the line of Food Thrift. The 

 daily mail at the offices in Washington requires the main- 

 tenance of a large staff in addition to the employees whose 

 time is devoted to the work of complying with requests 

 for manuals. Thousands of questions are submitted for 

 expert attention. These are met with the same ready re-. 

 s]ionse given the applications for the booklets. The Com- 

 mission has made itself a clearing house for information 

 on various lines of food saving and food utilization 

 ihrough these activities the nation has received construc- 

 tive and practical counsel on every phase of food pro- 

 duction, food canning and drying, the storage of vegeta- 

 bles and fruits in their natural state, the economical use 

 of all food products and the urgent need for preventing 

 the waste that has played such an important and grievous 

 ])art in American practices. 



The new importance attached to canning and drying 

 this year has two fundamentals. Primarily it was never 

 so essential as now that no foodstuffs should be allowed 

 to go to wa.ste. The world needs everything that can be 

 jiroduced. Closely related to this underlying truth is the 

 tremendous harvest of the home garden area. Even when 

 the production is no more than normal the growing sea- 

 son creates a supply far greater than the immediate de- 

 mand. F"or proof of this one need consult no statistics. 

 .\11 of us are familiar with the waste that takes place hi 

 garden and orchard. It does not require a large garden 

 to ])roduce more foodstuffs than the family of average 

 size can possibly consume. As a result much of the crop 

 is wasted. It is all too common to see tomatoes going to 

 decay on the vines because the supply is beyond the 

 household appetite. This is similarly true of various veg- 

 etables grown at home. At least 20 per cent, of the sweet 

 ])otato croji of the Southern States goes to waste for lack 

 of demand. Millions of bushels of apples are allowed to 

 spoil in the orchards because a glutted market will not 

 take them at prices that will pay for harvesting and trans- 

 ])ortation. 



This overplus of the growing season must be viewed 

 in one of two ways. It is obvious that we must look on 

 it either as a mistake of nature or as the manifestation of 



